Jeff Goldblum’s David utters after seeing the alien mothership, “That was… Uh, definitely… Bigger than the last one!” How about that was definitely dumber than the last one?!
So, if you’ve seen “Independence Day,” you know the plot of “Independence Day: Resurgence.” This time, we have alien technology to fight the aliens, but the aliens are packing stronger weaponry, as well.
“Resurgence” has the spectacle and effects that were as jaw dropping as its iconic predecessor, but it lacks three things:
- Its predecessor’s grand epic scale.
- Its predecessor’s charisma.
- Will Smith, so its predecessor’s charisma!
Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, and Vivica A. Fox return and deliver solid performances. Pullman’s turn as a traumatized war hero is some of his best work in years while Goldblum still has his wit. Are they the main characters? No. We get the whiny and dull Liam Hemsworth and Jesse T. Usher as cliched pilots we’ve seen a dozen times (including the first “Independence Day”).
“Resurgence” has some great ideas including the concept of us using alien technology to advance our planet, but we instead focus on dull character subplots that serve no purpose to the narrative. There was surprisingly some potential to a Roland Emmerich movie, but it’s lackluster. Not the worst movie I’ve seen this summer (or even this year), but it’s forgettable.
Grade: C
